Please explain geocaching

[Twocubdad]

Can someone explain how this works as a Scout program?

 

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but my understanding of the sport is that one enters the coordinates of a cache into your GPS unit and you follow the GPS to the cache. Seems like a really fun add-on for a family which travels around to different locations. If I'm on vacation at the beach, I may load the local caches and spend some vacation time looking for them. Over time you end up with a collection of cache trinkets from all over. Cool.

 

But I don't see how this works as a Scout event. Of the caches I've seen in our area, there seems to be one or two caches per location. Once you find that one cache, you've found it. You then load up in the car and drive to the next location. For Scouts to spend the day or a campout geocaching there would seem to be a good bit of driving to the different locations.

 

I suppose one could set up multiple caches in one area, but that strikes me as just using a GPS unit on an orienteering course and would require someone setting up the course first.

 

What am I missing?

[Beavah]

Yah, in da one troop around here that seems to do anything with it, I think it ends up motivatin' the boys to plan to go to different places to camp all the time. Baggin' the cache is part of the fun of the campout, exploring the other things around fills up the rest of the time.

 

Love to hear more from troops that really make use of it.

 

Beavah

 

[Nike]

Depending on the locaiton of the cache, you could be in for a strenuous backpacking or SCUBA trip to get to it. Like Beavah said, it's a good way to get boys to look at new places to camp or as a destination for a hike/climb/boating trip.

 

Oh, and you can hide the orienteering coordinates in a geocache (or vice versa) that take you to some kind of problem solving cache. They did this out at NYLT at PTC this summer. It was downright nefarious.

 

All in all, it's the same old game with a new twist.(This message has been edited by Nike)

[emb021]

In my area, there are several large county parks with several caches (there are rules about how close the caches are). In some cases, there are enought in the large parks that one could spend the day just looking for them in that park, hiking around.

 

We have a series of caches setup on a canal levee. Only way to get to them would be to either hike or bike (bike is better). There are about a dozen in this series.

 

GPS & Orienteering aren't QUITE the same. Orienteering using a compass, not a GPS.

 

Also, some caches make use of puzzles and such, which can make them more interesting/challenging.

 

[scoutldr]

There are things called "travel bugs"...coins or other objects with a serial number on it. When you find it, you log it in on an internet site and take it to your next location. The next person to find it logs it in and takes it somewhere else...you can track the "travels" of your bug online. A cache can be like an ammo box with trinkets and a log book in it...you can take a trinket (e.g., a small toy or scout patch), but you should leave one in exchange, and log your visit in the book. Other caches can be camoflaged to look like a hollow log. Another variation is the "micro"...you can be spot on the coordinates, but spend the rest of the day looking for it...maybe as small as a shotgun shell (or smaller), tied 30 feet up in a tree.

 

See www.geocaching.com for more info...

[moxieman]

Don't forget the grandfather of geocaching: Letterboxing

 

Call it "Geocaching" for the technology impaired as you don't need a GPS to do it.

 

More info: http://www.letterboxing.org/

 

[SR540Beaver]

Go to www.geocaching.com for anything and everything you want to know. We've never incorporated it into our program in part due to cost. A basic compass is a lot cheaper that a GPS unit. It has been a while since I've done any geocaching and I only have one cache still hidden. Don't let it fool you, it can be difficult. Just because you have coordinates to a location doesn't make getting to the location easy.

[Ltfightr]

Love Caching! In one of our State Parks there is a whole set on the Boy Scout trail marking the 12 Laws. You can camp on the trail, too. Just look up keyword "scout" on Geocaching.com and you will find TONS that you don't need a car to do.

[HobcawChaos]

My troop really enjoyed letterboxing and it really improved their compass skills. It's also inexpensive and simple for older scouts to set up for younger ones. A local county park does geocaching scavenger hunt days. We're going to give it a try in February and I'll let you know how it goes.

[CNYScouter]

There is a Supplemental Training module "Geocaching to Promote Scouting"

 

you can find a link to it at:

 

http://www.scouting.org/scoutsource/BoyScouts/TrainingModules.aspx

 

The module briefly describes some examples of geocaching games for Scout groups.

[jac0033]

Our troop is doing a geocaching activity this weekend at our Christmas campout. Our SPL will hide caches all over the scout camp the patrols will have to find them. My brother(ASM) his son(SPL) and myself(SM) and my son(JASM) love geocaching. We have been trying to get the rest of the troop to try it, this camp out should be fun.

[Twocubdad]

So if I'm hearing ya'll right, geocaching as a Scout activity generally involves someone going out and setting out a course or a number of caches all within reasonable hiking distance of each other. All not unlike a typical Scout orienteering course. For that matter, I could take the existing orienteering course at our camp, record the coordinates for each marker, and make it a geocache course.

 

What I'm not hearing is anyone who goes to geocache.com, downloads coordinates from the couple dozen caches within a 10-mile radius and tries to use those as a Scout activity.

[SR540Beaver]

twocub,

 

I wouldn't use the "public" caches from the internet for a scout activity. I'd do it at one of your council camps if I were you. There are multi-caches where you are given the coordinates to the first cache. When you get there, the cache contains the cooordinates to the next cache. You can do this for as many segments as you choose. Part of the fun of geocaching is finding the cache once you arrive at your destination. It can be something as small as a pill bottle wrapped in camo duct tape and can be hidden anywhere from ground level to above your head. One of the hardest I ever found was a cache on a stirng with a paperclip hook hanging inside an open metal fencepost. Another fun thing to do is hide the various ingredients for that evenings dinner and the patrol has to find all the caches and collect the ingredients in order to cook dinner.(This message has been edited by sr540beaver)

[walk in the woods]

I ran a geocaching camporee last fall. Yes, we set out a bunch of caches in the facility where we were camping. However, you can make it as fun or boring as you choose to.

 

In our case we did a little training in the morning on GPS usage, map and compass usage, nature identification and Scout Knowledge. In the afternoon the patrols were sent out to search for 30 caches. In each cache there was a question involving one of the topics from the morning. The map/compass caches required the patrols to find the cache, then do some skill with map/compass to find the answer. Nature caches included plant identification and such. You get the picture. We also did a CITO event while they were out.

 

Ultimately it was a timed event. Every patrol had 2.5 hours to find as many caches as possible. They received a time reduction for every correct answer, for having the 10 essentials for the patrol, biggest pile of trash picked up, patrol yell and patrol flag. No patrol found all 30 caches in the time limit partly because they were well hidden and partly because we made them go in order. The point-to-point hike was just over 6 miles.

 

Camporee awards were given for 1st, 2nd and 3rd best times. They could be expanded to include separate awards for biggest pile of trash, most blisters, etc.

 

We ran this on a county fair grounds so our hiding styles were limited. It would be excellent on a scout property. We used mostly pill bottles and magnetic key holders for caches.

[AlFansome]

Twocubdad-

Yeah, probably right with regard to a 10-mile radius. Depending on your area, finding a public park, bike trail, or hiking area is your best bet with a bunch of Scouts. Depending on the age level and density of the caches, you could do urban caching as well in some sort of relatively small area, explaining to the scouts about the need to be discreet in public places when searching so as not to draw the attention of muggles (i.e. non-cachers).

 

I'm in Northern California and within a 1-mile (not 10) radius of my house, there are probably 20-30 caches. On some of the hiking trails nearby, you could be within a mile of 40-50 caches.

 

So, it really depends on your area. Go to geocaching.com, create a free account, and search your area to see what's nearby. That will drive your decision on whether to hide your own or use public ones. Others have already posted great ideas if you decide to lay your own caches.